The Trials of XanderMan09 in Burthorpe
by Jade Bentley
Summary: This story tells how the character Xanderman09 worked through the Runescape Tutorial.


The Trials of XanderMan09 in the Runescape Tutorial

Upon restarting the game as XanderMan09, I was asked to lead the way through the Burthorpe tunnel to attack the troll general. While Ozan fired arrows with his bow and another soldier attacked with his sword, I watched to see how successful they were in battle before I tried to help them slay the troll general. They did much more damage than I did, but together we killed the giant troll. I collected his belongings (coins and his bones). Further down the tunnel, we came across a baby troll. I wanted to take him with me, but Ozan said he would take him to the training camp.

Captain Jute was leading the defense against the trolls outside. He wanted me to block the back entrance to a tunnel by firing a cannon from on top of the Burthorpe castle. After blocking the trolls path, I checked in with Major Nigel Corothers. The trolls managed to severely damage the towns of Burthorpe and Taverly. Major Corothers wanted me to visit the towns' experts to help with the war restoration efforts.

Corporal Keymans complained about Ozan dumping the baby troll on him. I offered to take care of it for him. I wanted to get some extra training in combat, so I headed back inside the cave to take on some trolls. I managed to slay seven of them making it to Level 3. I also looted some pretty weird stuff. I collected grimy guam, a raw potato, some poorly cooked beast meat, a gold charm, some cooked rabbit, a staff of air, and some coins.

Next, I headed to Isold, but first I had to kill a troll mage commando. Those trolls killed Isold's wife. Poor guy! That makes me want to get revenge for him. He needs more equipment for his new recruitments. He needed a helmet and gloves to help grip his sword in the freezing mountain ranges. I offered to try blacksmithing and leather crafting in order to make some equipment for him. First, I needed to mine some copper and tin to make his bronze helm.

While in the cave, I heard someone calling for help. I saved a woman named Linza and three others by clearing the debris in front of the shaft. It was exhausting work, but thank goodness I got to them in time. The shaft caved in right after they climbed out of the cave. She gave me an Army Axe, a special tool made by the dwarves, as her special way of thanking me. This was a member's item that gave me more XP when mining copper and tin. I mined both of the metals and then headed to the smelting furnace. I smelted the ore into a bronze bar so I could use it later.

It was suggested that I kill a cow using my sling to practice my combat skills from a distance and to get the hide to make leather. Randomly, I was given the task to bury the bones of my foes to gain Prayer XP. Back to what I was supposed to be doing… I talked to Jack Oval who let me take some free crafting supplies from his shop. He tanned my cow hides into leather for me. Now, I was set to make those gloves for Isold. He helped me sew the cow hide into the gloves. Boy, was I surprised how much skill it takes to get your needle through the hide, so that you can sew the pieces together to make something that actually looks like what it was supposed to be. I went back to mine some more metal to make more helmets, and I killed another cow to make another set of gloves. I also made myself a cool bronze dagger. I gave Isold what I had made, so he could work on fighting those trolls. He wanted to test out his equipment, and he asked me to hit him. Reluctantly, I gave him a good shot with my sling. He claims that he didn't feel a thing. I think he is a good story teller. He gave me a chisel for helping him out. It was of no use to him, but I was told that it was designed to fit a Dwarven Army Axe, which I had just recently accumulated. Now, I can get bonus XP when I am working with leather or soft clay if I have that axe with me. (Only members can use this special axe. No pressure to buy a subscription for the game or anything.)

Next, I was headed off to talk to Sister Judith. Wonder why it's called "Hell's Kitchen"? She was worried about the destruction in Taverley. Food is scare for the Burthorpe army. For some reason, she claimed that she couldn't hunt or cook, and the other adventures were too busy looking out for themselves. Of course, I offered to help. I had to bring her four pieces of cooked meat. Once again, I was given a random job of planting potatoes. Go figure! I got some equipment from Head Farmer Jones. He gave me some seed so I could plant some potatoes. First, I had to rake the potato patch. Imagine that! As I was raking the potatoes, they began to disappear. Silly me, I thought those green patches were the potato plants. They were actually weeds. No wonder they disappeared. Once I finally got to plant my seed, I was told to wait for them to grow.

My next task was to kill a crimson swift. Apparently, it makes a pretty scrumptious meal. Ayleth Beaststalker, who provides food for the Imperial Guard, asked me to join her hunt for these unique birds. First, I had to go back to the "deposit box" to get rid of some of my supplies. I quickly got back to set my bird snare. I captured two birds, and then high-tailed it to the lake to trap some crayfish. I got three crustaceans and headed to the forest to get some logs for a fire to cook my meat. However, my logs were better used for craftsmanship. While looking for a campfire, I came upon a wounded soldier. He was stabbed in the spleen. I thought that I had better leave him alone to get his rest. I finally did start a campfire to cook my meat. I am such a terrible cook. I burnt the crayfish and my beef several times before I got it right.

I was trying to find my way back to Sister Judith when I saw Sir Owen struggling in battle trying to defeat a troll berserker. I tried to help as best I could… I'm still a novice with a sword. However, we did successfully slay the nasty green giant. Sir Owen was thanking Saradomin that I was there. Funny, I do not know this god.

I was trying to find a store where I could sell some of the goods I collected. I accidently ran into Achietties who basically said I wasn't good enough to be in her guild because I wasn't a real hero. No kidding!

Geesh, I can't find Sister Judith! Where did she go? After consulting the map, I need to go south.

It is so cool that I can walk right through people.

I finally found her. I got turned around. Yikes, the people who are now talking to her have really big swords. They look pretty tough. They finally left so I could talk to her. I gave her my cooked food. She was ecstatic that I saved a few hungry souls. It doesn't take much to make her happy!

While trying to find a shop so that I could sell something to complete my next task, I ran into Tam McGrubor. He was a convincing salesman. (He didn't charge me anything, and I ended up with 64 gold coins for taking it.) I ended up with a fancy hood for Runecrafting. I'm not totally sure what I will use it for, but he made it sound like it would be pretty important when I tried to use the runes for teleporting and other spells. He told me that the hood produces 105 pieces of rune essence per day. It needs to recharge like a battery (some crazy gadget from the future). I also can only teleport twice per day. It looks like I will need to find some talismans to get this silly hood to unlock.

Next, I stumbled upon a small shop where a guy named Tostig, who tried to sell me some crappy ale. I ignored him and moved on to Mess Sergeant Ramsey, who gave me some tips on cooking. I caught some more crayfish, and tried cooking again. I still burnt most of them, but I am getting better at it. I am more successful with cooking poultry.

In the next stage, I talked to Ruth Savage, who warned me that the rich people were rude, and wasted their money. They could be supporting the war efforts, but choose not to. Ruth wanted me to pick pocket one of the town's rich pompous men. I don't really like stealing, but if it is to support the war effort, I suppose I can try it.

I went upstairs in the same building and found too lazy oafs sitting at the dining tables. I found out that some jerk named Winston Kepple made his money by selling goods (way over priced) to the stupid trolls. That scoundrel called me a peon. I met another fat slob in this dining hall named Rob the Stout. He kept thinking that I was a server who didn't bring him his food. I think that he would still live if he missed a meal or two…or three or four. I kept trying to tell him that I didn't work here. Apparently, I couldn't pick pocket these guys, so I walked downstairs. There was a rich merchant standing at the bottom of the steps, so I stole some loot while he wasn't looking.

Outside the restaurant, I ran into a man called Nails Newton. He wanted me to steal Rob the Stout's seal so that he could use it to make a fake document legitimate with the seal. This document would release the food stock piles he has so that the townspeople would have something to eat. I hate being so sneaky, and I know that stealing is wrong. However, I want to help with the war efforts. I don't want to see people starve either.

Rob orders an expensive pie every day from this restaurant. Newton wanted me to make a pie that would poison him (temporarily) so I could get the seal from the shelf by his table. Newton thought that if Rob the Stout was barfing up the pie, he would rush out of the room and would not be concerned about taking his seal with him. Then I could sneak off with the seal.

I had to put fishing bait into the pie crust. I found this across a bridge south of the restaurant. It was lying on the ground beside a dead troll. I gathered some wheat in a nearby field. Then I took the wheat to the mill close by. I put the wheat and bait in the hopper. Then, I took the poisoned wheat to Newton. Next, he wanted me to get a raw crayfish, bury it, and then bring back the decaying crustacean. Totally Gross! I did as he asked even though I had to hold my nose during the entire task.

Unfortunately, the tasks didn't get any better. Next, I had to take a raw potato and bury it in a kebbit hole filled with hair and poop. I almost tossed my cookies just gathering the nasty ingredients for this pie. I tossed everything into the disgusting pie crust and took the pie back to Newton. It smelled so bad that we knew Rob the Stout wouldn't eat it. I ended up pick pocketing some spices from one of Rob's friends, Foppish Pierre, near the mill. I added it to the pie and gave it to Stout. That fool actually tried some of my "Crayfish a la Manque." I got to hear all of Rob's ralphing sounds. Doesn't the sound of someone vomiting make you want to vomit too? Gross-a –roo! I think Rob the Stout will be in the infirmary for quite some time. That stuff I made was NASTY!

With Rob out of the picture, I was able to run upstairs, pick the lock of Rob's chest, steal the seal, and bring it to Nails Newton. We used the seal to stamp Newton's fake letter. I took the letter to Foppish Pierre. He didn't even remember seeing me earlier when I stole his spices. Pierre thought Rob was demented for opening the food reserves for free. I told him that he had to do what the boss said. I went back to Nails to tell him the mission was complete.

And now I am proud to say that I have finally finished a quest without the help of any other person, just the game guiding me through the tutorial. Ta-dah!


End file.
